Apparatus and process for slitting at least two webs

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for simultaneously slitting at least two continuously running webs such as paper comprising a plurality of pairs of circular knives, a support, one knife of each pair being in a fixed plane, the second knife of each pair being disposed on said support which is axially displaceable to move said second knives simultaneously toward or away from their respective first knives, roll means for guiding at least one of said webs to each of said knife pairs, and means for joining said slit webs with their edges in longitudinal alignment. One knife on the support is fixed in axial position and another knife is axially displaceable along the support, means being provided to adjust its position and to lock it in predetermined position.

United States Patent [191 Naudascher et al.

[451 Nov. 4, 1975 APPARATUS AND PROCESS FOR SLI'ITING AT LEAST TWO WEBS [73] Assignee: Jagenberg Werke AG, Dusseldorf,

Germany 22 Filed: Nov. 21, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 418,141

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 24, 1973 Germany 2347889 [52] US. Cl. 83/86; 83/425.4; 83/502; 83/513 [51] Int. Cl. B26D 7/06; B26D 11/00 [58] Field of Search .l 83/86, 87, 78, 23, 425, 83/425.4, 513, 502, 501, 500; 144/321, 323

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,754,969 4/1930 Spoor 83/501 X 2,214,593 9/1940 Muskin et a1. 83/425 X 3,367,225 2/1968 Stanford et a1. 83/501 X 3,532,019 10/1970 Metzger 83/502 3,730,043 5/1973 Zimmermann 83/502 3,791,246 2/1974 Lazickas 83/375 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,081,748 5/1960 Germany 83/86 Primary Examiner-Harrison L. Hinson Assistant ExaminerWm. R. Briggs Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Burgess, Dinklage & Sprung [57] ABSTRACT An apparatus for simultaneously slitting at least two continuously running webs such as paper comprising a plurality of pairs of circular knives, a support, one knife of each pair being in a fixed plane, the second knife of each pair being disposed on said support which is axially displaceable to move said second knives simultaneously toward or away from their respective first knives, roll means for guiding at least one of said webs to each of said knife pairs, and means for joining said slit webs with their edges in longitudinal alignment. One knife on the support is fixed in axial position and another knife is axially displaceable along the support, means being provided to adjust its position and to lock it in predetermined position.

3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures l 77 I 3 l4 Sheet 1 of 2 3,916,743

US. Patent Nov. 4, 1975 US. Patent Nov. 4, 1975 Sheet2of2 3,916,743

Fig.3

APPARATUS AND PROCESS FOR SLITTING AT LEAST 'rwo' WEBS' The invention relates to a method of simultaneously slitting at least two webs of paper, cardboard or the like, the webs being slit by means of pairs of circular knives, and it furthermore relates to an apparatus for the practice of the method.

In dividing a broad web of material moving at great velocity into a plurality of narrow webs, slitting apparatus are preferably used which consist of two rotating circular knives which cooperate in the manner of a shears. Such slitting devices have proven valuable in the processing of single-layer webs of paper, cardboard or the like because the requirements, such as burr-free and dust-free cut edges, can be fulfilled within the permissible tolerances. In the cutting of multi-layer webs of material, especially those of relatively high weights per unit of area, it has been found, however, that the cutting results, i.e., the quality of the cut edges of multilayer cut material webs, are perceptibly inferior to that of single-ply cut material webs. In making web material into cut sheets, the web material is-cross-cut by means of revolving knife rolls after it has been slit. In this case the above-mentioned disadvantage of -the'loss of quality in multi-layer slitting is particularly pronounced, since it is also inferior to the quality of the cross cutting. The invention is addressed to the problem of eliminating this deficiency, i.e., of improving the prior-art procedure such that, in the processing of a multi-layer web 'of material, especially the quality of the slitting cut will be comparable to that of asingle-ply web of material.

This problem is solvedby the invention in that, in the initially described machine, the procedure is to divide the number of webs of material into two separately superimposed strands and slit each strand longitudinally with one or more pairs of circular knives, such that the cut edges of the superimposed webs of material which are produced in each case are located in a common plane forming a right angle with the two web planes. For the performance of this process an apparatus is used in which one circular knife of each of the two superimposed circular knife pairs is disposed on a common support which can travel in the axial direction. The further development of the apparatus consists in mounting one of the circular knives disposed on the common support such that it will be adjustable within the bearing bore by means of a coaxial adjusting screw axially against an adjusting gauge, the adjusting gauge consisting of a spring-biased 2-armed lever of unequal arms which has a stop piece extending within reach of both of the cutting edges of the circular knives disposed on the support.

The advantage attained with the invention consists in the fact that it has become possible with the abovenamed apparatus to slit a multiple-layer web of material such that the cut-edge quality thus produced is comparable with the quality of a single-ply slit web edge. An additional advantage also consists in the fact that now twice the number of material webs may be cut with the same cut-edge quality.

An example of the embodiment of the invention is represented in the drawing and is described further hereinafter.

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the slitting apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a partial cross section through the knife mount, and

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the adjusting gauge.

The paper working machine shown in FIG. 1 is a cross-cutting machine 1 preceded by a slitting machine 2. In this slitting machine 2 the paper webs 3 and 4 arriving over guide rolls 5 and 6, respectively, from paper roll feeds which are not shown, are introduced separately and slit longitudinally by slitting knife pairs 7 and 8, respectively, associated with webs 3 and 4. After slitting, the severed webs 3 and 4 are carried over additional guide rolls 9 and 10, respectively, through an infeed roll pair 11 in the cross cutting machine 1, and are combined into a multiple-layer material web 12, and after their further common advancement by means of the drive roll pair 13 they are delivered to the cross-cut knife pair 14.

In the case of paper webs 3 and 4 which are separately guided and at the same time slit longitudinally, it is especially important to dispose the slitting knives so that the cut edges produced in each case are precisely superimposed on one another after paper webs 3 and 4 have been brought back together again. It is important to do this so that afterward the stacks of sheets laid side by side in the magazine will be able to be separated without difficulty, i.e., all lateral interlocking of the individual signatures must be prevented.

In order that the slit webs 3 and 4 may be made to enter the cross-cutting machine 1 with their edges aligned the circular knives 15 and 16 of the superimposed slitting knife pairs 7 and 8 are mounted for rotation in a support 17 adapted for movement in the direction of the slitting knife axis. This support 17 is carried on a cylindrical rail 18 and on a crossbeam 20 provided with a flat bearing surface 19. The axial displacement of the support 17 is performed by means ofa rack 21 which is disposed on the cylindrical rail 18 and is engaged by a pinion 22 which is mounted in the support 17 and maybe turned by means of the handwheel 23. The support 17 may be locked in a particular position by the clamp means 24. While the circularknives l5 and 16 of the superimposed slitting knife pairs 7 and 8 are mounted in one support 17, the corresponding, also circular counterknives 25 and 26 are mounted in their own supports 27 and 28, respectively, which in turn are carried on the slitting knife crossbeams 29 and 30, respectively.

While the circular knives 25 and 26 have no drives and are driven mainly by the paper webs being cut, 3 and 4, respectively, the circular knives l5 and 16 mounted in the support 17 are equipped with their own drive. This drive starts out from a driven square shaft 31 on which a gear 32 is displaceably mounted. This gear 32, which is mounted in the support 17 and is driven by the square shaft 31, drives the upper circular knife 15 directly by engaging the gear 33 disposed upon the knife shaft. At the same time a driving connection is also provided through an intermediate gear 34 to the gear 35 which is mounted on the lower shaft of circular knife 16 and thus circular knife 16 is driven.

The circular knives l5 and 16 mounted in the support 17 are so disposed that their cutting edges 36 and 37 lie in a single plane. For reasons of manufacturing accuracy and the possibility of regrinding the panshaped circular knives l5 and 16, however, it is impossible to achieve a precise alignment of the two cutting edges 36 and 37. To avoid having to maintain a high manufacturing accuracy, and to permit the regrinding of circular knives and 16, the circular knife 15 is arranged so as to be axially adjustable. The adjustment is performed through the adjusting screw 38 which is guided in the threaded ring 39 mounted on the support 17. As the adjusting screw 38 is rotated, its axial displacement is transmitted to circular knife 15 by means of pressure plate 40, pressure ring 41, bearing 42, spacer ring 43, gear 33, spacer ring 44, bearing 45 and shaft shoulder 46. The plate springs 47 in the area of the shaft shoulder 46 have two functions: on the one hand they are to produce a return of circular knife 15 when the adjusting screw 38 is loosened, and on the other hand they are to compensate any axial play occurring in the mounting of the knife.

To enable the operator to determine when the circular knife 15 has its cutting edge 36 in the same plane as the cutting edge 37 of the lower circular knife 16, a spring-loaded stop lever 48 with a stop piece 49 is provided on support 17 and can be pivoted by hand against the spring pressure into the plane of the cutting edges of circular knives 15 and 16. Since the stop piece, on account of its elongated shape and because of the central arrangement of the adjusting gauge 48-49 between the two circular knives 15 and 16, extends into both cutting edge areas, when the one end of the stop piece 49 has come into contact with the cutting edge 37 of circular knife 16, it projects the plane of the said cutting edge to the cutting edge of circular knife 15. The cutting edge 36 of the upper circular knife 15 may thus be adjusted to the thus projected cutting edge plane of the lower circular knife 16, the adjustment being completed at the moment when cutting edge 36 contacts the other end of the stop piece 49. When the abovedescribed adjusting movement of circular knife 15 has been completed, the stop lever 48 is released and the nut 50 threaded on the adjusting screw 38 is tightened against the fixed threaded ring 39. In this manner the axial adjustment of the upper slitting knife 15 is fixed. After this one-time knife adjustment, the support 17 may then be brought by means of hand wheel 23 into any desired position and locked there by the 'clamp means 24. Thereupon the oppositely located circular knives 25, 26, are engaged with the cutting edges 36 and 37 of circular knives 15 and 16, respectively, and are then locked on the slitting knife crossbeams 29 and 30, respectively.

It will be appreciated that the instant specification and examples are set forth by way of illustration and not limitation, and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for simultaneously slitting at least two initially separated continuously running webs such as paper comprising a plurality of pairs of circular knives, a support, one knife of each pair being in a fixed plane, the second knife of each pair being disposed on said support which is displaceable transverse to the running webs to move said second knives simultaneously toward or away from their respective first knives, roll means for guiding at least one of said webs to each of said knife pairs, and means for joining said slit webs superimposed across their broad faces with their edges in longitudinal alignment, one second knife on said support being fixed in position relative to said support and one second knife on said support being displaceable along the axis about which the second knife rotates in a direction transverse to the direction of travel .of the running webs so that its plane of rotation may be adjusted to coincide with that of said fixed second knife, the slit edges produced by said two second knives being longitudinally aligned.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, including an adjusting screw for displacing the displaceable second knife on said support, an adjusting gage for sensing when the planes of rotation of said second knives coincide, and means for locking said adjusting screw in position to lock said displaceable second knife in position.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said adjustingv gage comprises a spring-biased, unequalarmed double lever having on its longer lever arm a stop arm extending simultaneously within the reach of the cutting edges of the fixed second knife and the displaceable second knife. 

1. An apparatus for simultaneously slitting at least two initially separated continuously running webs such as paper comprising a plurality of pairs of circular knives, a support, one knife of each pair being in a fixed plane, the second knife of each pair being disposed on said support which is displaceable transverse to the running webs to move said second knives simultaneously toward or away from their respective first knives, roll means for guiding at least one of said webs to each of said knife pairs, and means for joining said slit webs superimposed across their broad faces with their edges in longitudinal alignment, one second knife on said support being fixed in position relative to said support and one second knife on said support being displaceable along the axis about which the second knife rotates in a direction transverse to the direction of travel of the running webs so that its plaNe of rotation may be adjusted to coincide with that of said fixed second knife, the slit edges produced by said two second knives being longitudinally aligned.
 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, including an adjusting screw for displacing the displaceable second knife on said support, an adjusting gage for sensing when the planes of rotation of said second knives coincide, and means for locking said adjusting screw in position to lock said displaceable second knife in position.
 3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said adjusting gage comprises a spring-biased, unequalarmed double lever having on its longer lever arm a stop arm extending simultaneously within the reach of the cutting edges of the fixed second knife and the displaceable second knife. 